Chain control for axminster looms



June 28, 1927.

. 1,633,654 w. H. WAKEFIELD CHAIN CONTROL FOR AXMINSTER LOOMS 7 FiledOct. 12, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 'ai' I INvENToFe WALTER, H. WAKEFIELD l l1927' v w. H. WAKEFIELD 633654 CHAIN CONTROL FOR AXMINSTER LOOMS FiledDc 2, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 :JRIVENTOR WALTER H. WAKEFIELD AT-ro R NEYSFatented June 28, 1927.

usirsn stares PATENT OFFICE. v

WALTER I-I. WAKEFIELD, OF VJOBCESTEB, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T CROMPTOH85 KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OFMASSACHUSETTS.

CHAIN CONTROL FOR AXMINSTER LOOMS.

Applicationfiled October 12,1926. Serial No. 141,183.,

This invention relates to improvements in means for controlling themovements of the tube frame transporting chain for Axminster looms andit is the principalobject of the invention to provide means forautomatically in the character of fabric being woven.

In Axminster looms it is customary to em ploy a number of tube frameswhich is a factor of the total number of picks or rows of tufts woven inthe length of therug, the chain being reversed about a line of symmetryin order to weave a rug having a number of picks greater than the numberof tube frames employed. In certain designs it is desirable that theends of the rugs shall be unlike, and this is achieved by weaving thecenter of the rug from the same or similar tube frames, the same tubeframe supplying tufts for a large number of successive picks. At thepresent time this resuit is accomplished by a hand operation, that is,the pawl which" advances the trnsporting chain is thrown. out of actionmanually and the weaver must either count the number of picks of theloom during'which the pawl is to be idle or he must have a string whichwill serve as a gauge to measure that part of the rug which is to bewoven from the same tube frame.

It is an important object of my present invention to provide mechanicalmeans for automatically counting the number of times the same tube frameis presented to the fabric in the weaving of the plain part of the rugand to resume the normal movement of the chain after the plain part isfinished.

It is a further object of the invention to provide means for presentingeach of a series of tube frames to the fabric for a plurality ofsuccessive picks, the different frames of the series forming tufts indifferent order so that the central part of the rug may have acomparatively simple figure, such for instance, as a checkerboarddesign.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a device whichmay be employed to weave the heading customarily woven betweensuccessive rugs without requiring manual operation on the part of theweaver.

vVith these and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, my invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings wherein I have shown a convenientembodiment of my invention, 1

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of an Axminster loom having myinvention appli edthereto,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation look ing in the direction of arrow2, Fig. 1,

.Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail front elevat1on of a portion of thestructure shown in Fig. 2, v

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line44 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail showing the construction of one of theupper sprockets and the manner in which the indicating tappet isreceived thereby, and

Fig. 6 indicates a type of rug to be woven with the aid of my presentinvention.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 1 it will be seen that I haveprovided a loom frame 10 having a bottom shaft 11 to which is secured acam 12 cooperating with a cam lever 13 pivoted as at 14:. The rear endof said lever is attached to'an upwardly extending link 15 connected toa-bell crank lever 16 pivoted as at 17 to a part of the loom frame. Aforwardly extending connector 18 attached to lever 16 is pivot-allyconnected as at 19 (see Fig. 1) to a freely oscillating lever 20. Anactuator pawl 21 is pivoted as at 22 to the lever and is moved back andforth around pull-over shaft 23 as a center of rotation as the shaft 11turns.

Said pull-over shaft 23 extends across the loom and has secured theretoat one end a ratchet 24 having a plurality of teeth 25 which cooperatewith the pawl 21. pair of sprockets26, one at each end of the shaft 23andone of which is shown in the drawings, are secured to said shaft 23and cooperatewith the transporting chains 27 made of double links 28-andsingle links 29 received by the teeth 30 of the sprockets. Ascustomarily made there is a recess 31 formed between each pair of teeth30. Tube frames 32, two of which are indicated in Fig. 1, are detachablysecured to the chains and are moved thereby successively to a positionunder pull-over shaft 23.

The overhead structure for the loom comprises a beam 33 which supportsupper guide sheaves 34 and relatively larger sprockets Additionalsheaves 36 may be provided on the overhead work and the chain 27 islooped around said sheaves and sprockets as indicated in Fig. 1. Fig.shows a fragment of one of the sprockets where it will be seen that arecess 37 is formed between adjacent teeth 38, said recess 37' andrecesses 31 of the sprockets on the pull-over the loom corresponding tothe space between.

adjacent teeth 30 on the sprocket 26. At the conclusion of each angularmovement of the pull-over shaft transferring arms, not shown but wellunderstood release the lowermost tube frame from the chain 27 and movethe same downwardly toward the fabric F where a tuft is incorporated inthe cloth, after which the tube frame is returned to the chain, Themechanism thus far described is of common construction and may beoperated in the usual manner.

My .invention relates more particularly to means for arresting movementof the chain 27 for a predetermined number of picks so that the tubeframe which is immediately under the pull-over shaft 23 can be made useof to supply a plurality of picks instead of being moved out of weavingposition after the first tuft has been drawn therefrom. Accordingly, Isecure to an arch 1O formed as part of the loom frame a bracket 11 onthe lower end of which is a bearing 12 to receive the right hand end ofshaft 4.3, the left hand end of which is free to turn in a bearing 1 1formed in a brace usually employed to provide a pivot for the left handend of the pull-over shaft 23. A chain cylinder 46 has a hub 4'? whichis secured by means of a screw 48 to the shaft -13. A ratchet wheel 49and hub 50 therefor are secured by means of set screw 51 to the shaft43, said ratchet having teeth 52 shown clearly in Fig. 41.

In order to actuate the ratchet and chain cylinder I provide a pull pawlwhich may conveniently be mounted on the stud 22 on which the maindriving pawl 21 is mounted said pull pawl 53 being urged toward theratchet 19 by a light compression spring 5 1 the lower end of which isseated in a pocket 55 formed on the lever 20. A shield 56 is providedfor the pawl and has a hub 57 freely rotatable on shaft 43. said shieldhaving a guard flange 58 and being attached by means of a connector 59to arm 60 of a rocking lever 61 pivoted as at 62 on the rearwardlyextending arm 63 of bracket 41. A link 64- is connected at the lower endthereof as at 65 to the pawl 21 and at the upper end is connected as at66 to a lever 67 pivoted as at 68 to the brace 15 and overlying thechain 69 on the sprocket 16. I

The lower end of lever 61has a shoe 70 which is positioned forengagement with tappets 71 formed on certain of the links 28 of thetransporting chain 27 on that end of the loom near the lever 61 andparts associated therewith.

In order to illustrate the operation of my invention I will describe thesame in connection with an imaginary design, such as shown in Fig. 6.The usual chain 27, when carrying a complete complement of tube frames,has 504 tube frames and reversed about a central line of symmetry whenthe last tube frame of the set is reached, in this way providing for1008 picks or rows of tufts. The take-up of the loom may be set to give'7 picks or rows to the inch so as to produce a rug 144; inches long. Itis by the use of the stated number of tube frames nine feet in lengththat the in'i'linary 9 X 12 Axminster rug is woven.

The object of the present invention is to enable the use of the samenumber .of tube frames as previously described but wherein the rug willnot be symmetrical about a center line, that is, each end will have adis tinctive design in no way related to the other end; I will assumefor instance that that portion of the rug indicated at in Fig. 6 willrequire 240 picks or 21-0 tube frames and that the portion marked B willrequire the same number of tube frames, the part B being a distinctlydifferent weave from the part A. There remains 2 1 tube frames which canbe used to weave the 528 picks found in the center of the rug and corresponding to the space C in Fig. 6. In order that the space C may have528 picks it is necessary that each of the 2% tube frames allottedthereto shall weave 22 picks. .In order to accomplish this result thetransporting chain 27 will be so built that when the first tube framecorresponding to section C is immediately under the pull-over shaft 23the link 28 which is nearest the shoe 70 will have a tappet 71 thereonto move the lever 61 in a clockwise direction around stud 62. The tubeframe under shaft 23 moves to this position while the pawl 21 is movingto the right as shown in Fig. 4 and as said pawl nears the right handend of its motion the arm 60 through connector 59 will rock the shield56 upwardly so that spring 54 will move the pawl 53 into operativeposition with respect to the ratchet 19. As lever 20 returns to the lefton the stroke which is normally idle so far as pawl 21 and thetransporting chain are concerned the pull pawl 53 will move ratchet 49one space and a ball 80 on the chain 69' will appear under lever 67' toraise the latter. As saidlever 6'? is raised it will lift the pawl 21 bymeans of link 6% so that on the next or normally operative movement oflever 20 to the right said pawl 21 will be ineffective to turn theratchet 24 and the pull-over shaft and the transporting chain willremain at rest. On each successive movement of the lever 20 to the leftas shown in Fig. l the chain cylinder lowill be moved angularly topresent another link of the chain 69 under lever 67. There will be anumber of balls 80 on said chain 69 in order to keep the lever 67 inraised position, the number necessary to give 22 picks being 21 balls.One of the links of the chain 69 will be without a ball, and when thechain 69 has made a complete revolution this link will come under lever67 to permit the latter to fall as lever 20 reaches its extreme lefthand position. The pawl 21 will therefore fall into operative positionwith respect to the ratchet 24 and on the next movement of the awl,which is to the right, the pull-over shaft 23 will then be given anangular movement and another tappet 71 will be brought opposite the shoe70 so that the operation just described will be repeated. The sequenceof movements just described will continue until the tappets 71 of. the24 chain' links 28 have passed by shoe 70, after which shield 56 willremain down and the pull pawl will cease to actuate the chain 69, thesecond set of 24:0 tube frames coming into action to complete the rug.In this way it is possible to divide the chain into three sections whichwill weave two end patterns A and B and the central plain pattern C.

In order to indicate that it is not necessary that the central portion Cbe entirely plain I have shown the same as of a modified checkerboarddesign, the first tube frame producing a number of squares 22 picks wideand 22 picks long extending across the fabric and the next tube framehaving the squares alternated with those made by the first. By havingthe successive tube frames assigned to section C different it ispossible to weave a rug the center of which is not plain. Obviously, thecentral portion C can be made in a variety of patterns depending uponthenumber of tube frames assigned to the weaving of this part of the rug.

While I have described the device in connection with a chain 27 suppliedwith a full complement of tube frames yet it is possible to use the samefor rugs of lesser length than those described and it is also possiblethat when the last tube frame of the pattern has been reached a tappet71 can be brought opposite shoe 70 so that the heading between rugs maybe woven.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided means forautomatically controlling the pull-over shaft and transportingichain ofan Axminster loom so that a portionrof the rug may be woven by aplurality of p cks drawn from the same tube frame, the transportingchain remammg at rest while the tube frame provides a number of rows oftufts. Furthermore, it will be seen that this device canbe employed toweave the headings between rugs and that by its use a rug of full lengthcan be woven having a pattern which is not symmetrical in its entiretyabout a central line.

A spring 80 is interposed between arm 60 and stand 41 and acts normallyto hold the shield in the position shown inFig. 1, and acts also to holdthe shoe of lever 61 in the path of the tappets 71.

Having thus described my invention it will be apparent thatchanges andmodifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention, and I do not wishto-be limited to the details herein disclosed but what I claim is:

1. In an Axminster loom having a plurality of tube frames, a tube frametransporting chain, means to advance the same to present the tube framesone at a time to ing position, means to advance the chain with a step bystep movement, and mechanism controlled by the chain to render saidmeans inoperative to give the transporting chain a step by stepmovement, to the end that one of the tube frames may be operativelyplaced for a plurality of successive picks of the loom. I v

3. In an Axminster loom having a plurality of tube frames, normallyoperative means to present a different tube frame to weaving position oneach pick of the loom,

and mechanism under control of said means to render said meansinoperative to present a different tube frame to weaving position eachpick of the loom, to the end that one tube frame maybe operative for asucces sion of picks.

4. In. an Axminster loom having a plurality of tube frames, atransporting chain for the tube frames, a ratchet operatively connectedto the chain, a pawl having a regular operative movement to actuate theratchet, and mechanism controlled by the transporting chain to move saidpawl to inoperative position relatively to the ratchet.

5. In an Axminster loom having a plurality of tube frames, atransporting chain for the tube frames, a ratchet operatively connectedto the tube frames to move the latter, a pawl for the ratchet having anormally operative movement followed by an inoperativemovementrelatively to the ratchet, and mechanism controlled by thetransporting chain and operative on the inoperative stroke of the pawlto move the latter out of operative position with respect to theratchet.

G. In an Amninster loom having a plurality of tube frames, atransporting chain to move the tube frames successively to posi tion, anangularly movable device operatively associated with the chain to movethe latter, a reci n-ocating member to cooperate with the angularlymovable device and having an operative movement with respect to i thelatter when moving in one direction and an inoperative movement withrespect to the said device when moving in the opposite direction,andmechanism controlled by the transporting chain and effective during theinoperative movement of the reciprocating member to move the latter outof operative position with respect to the device, where by said memberwill be ineffective to move the device when moving in either direction.

7. In an Axminster loom having a plurality of tube frames, atransporting chain for the tube frames, means to move said chain topresent the tube fran'ies successively to weaving position, a counterchain, a regularly moving normally ineffective actuator for the counterchain, means controlled by the transporting chain for the tube framesfor rendering said actuator effective to adralit" of tube frames a trans)ortin chain for the tube frames, a counter chain, actuating means forsaid chains, connections controlled by the tl'fiIlSPOltillg chain tostart the counter chain, and additional connections controlled by thecounter chain effective when said counter chain starts its movement toarrest movement of the transporting chain.

9. In an Axminster loom having a plurality of tube frames, attransporting chain for the tube frames, a counter chain, means normallyeffective to give the transporting chain movements on successive picksof the loom, additional regularly moving means normally ineffective togive the counter chain movements, and mechanism operatively related toboth chains whereby each can stop the movement of the other. 7

10. In an Amninster loom having a plurality of tube frames, atransporting chain for the tube frames, a counter chain, means normallyeffective to give the transporting chain moven'ients on successivepicksof the leom, additional regularly moving means normally ineffectiveto give the counter chain nuwemcnts, and mechanism .operatively relatedto both chains whereby each can stop the movement of the other andwhereby the transporting chain can start the counter chain.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto aflixedmy signature.

lVALTER H. VAKEFIELD.

